LaHood created heartburn for highway advocates -- and caused bicyclists to nearly swoon -- when he blogged: "This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized."

The National Association of Manufacturers fired back that the policy was "dumb . . . irresponsible" and "nonsensical for a modern industrial nation."

Unfazed by the criticism, including the suggestion from a former GOP colleague in the House that he was on drugs, LaHood climbed onto a table at a convention of cyclists to reiterate his support for treating "walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes."